Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini bemoaned his side’s failure to take
advantage of their superiority over Chelsea after this clash between the
teams sitting second and fourth in the Premier League finished goalless.

Mancini was upset that his side were not more clinical in the final third, and failed to create significant chances that he felt their performance and possession merited.

City were superior to the home side but did not seriously test Petr Cech despite creating opportunities. David Silva and Sergio Agüero should both have done better with headers from close range in the first half and Cech saved with his legs from Pablo Zabaleta.

A fumbled shot from Yaya Touré was as close as Manchester City came to scoring in the second half, leaving the manager frustrated by a game in which James Milner was among his side’s most effective players.

“I’m not satisfied with one point. To play here at Chelsea is always difficult but to play well as we did here today, we can’t lose two points,” Mancini said.

“We were so poor in the last 20 metres. When we have a chance, we need to score. I like everything from my team, but not the last 20 minutes. We had chances to score but we missed the last pass.

“You have to be strong with that in the box. If you are soft, you won’t score. That’s why I was upset.”

Mancini refused to criticise the yellow card given to substitute Mario Balotelli for diving after he was clearly body-checked by David Luiz – “It’s better a yellow card than a red card,” he said – and sympathised with Rafael Benítez after he was booed by the home fans.

“I can understand it’s not easy for the new manager. But this is football. I think he’s a good manager and he will have time to show this, because he has experience and has won a lot of trophies.